


The Sky Is So Green Today

by AnnaFugazzi



Series: HP April Fool's [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: HP April Fool's 2012
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 16:19:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1905618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaFugazzi/pseuds/AnnaFugazzi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A chance encounter can change everything.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sky Is So Green Today

**Author's Note:**

> The April Fool's Fest, for those who don't know, was a fest where we all made fools out of ourselves. Those of us who write attempted to draw, and those of us who draw, attempted to write. The results were often, um, unique :) We were also given prompts that were more, um, creative than the norm. The last year we also got our title assigned to us and the name of our giftee concealed until after we'd posted :)
> 
> It was a cool fest. Sad to see it go :(
> 
> My prompt was: "Firenze, Moody, Nagini (not all together [unless you WANT to]) but I'm open to anything with any of those characters. Theme: outside the norm."
> 
> Well, I have never written or drawn anything with any of these three characters, so this was very much of a think outside the norm for me too!
> 
> And my sincere apologies re. Firenze: I tried so, so hard to find a bare-chested blond man and Palomino-coloured horse body, to no avail. Finally had to just kluge in the blondness, and forget the Palominoness :(
> 
>  **Medium:** Sweet Home 3D, Apple Paintbrush.  
> 

"It is not safe for humans here, young wizard," said the centaur, and Alastor jumped about five feet into the air. He whirled around and came face to chest with a centaur.

"What-" he gasped, and out of the corner of his eye he spied the snake he'd been pursuing for three bloody hours slither out of sight. Suddenly the amusement on the centaur's face infuriated him.

"Why did you do that? I'd nearly caught 'im!"

The centaur glanced at the rapidly disappearing snake. "That snake is not for you, little one."

"How would you know?"

"She does not have the venom you are looking for. She is not even from this land."

"Where's she from, then?" asked Alastor.

"Far across the water. You call it Albania."

"Albania?" Alastor's lip curled. "How would you know? You've seen it in some crystal ball, then?"

"Centaurs don't use crystal balls," said the centaur, even more amused than before.

"Then how'd you know?"

The centaur shrugged. "I heard the young wizard who brought her here tell her that that the Forbidden Forest would remind her of her home in Albania."

Alastor blew out his breath and shook his head in disgust. "Well wherever she was from, you've blown my chances with her, and now I'm going to fail my Potions assignment," he muttered. "I'll get going, then."

"That would not be advisable." The centaur glanced at the sky.

"Why?" Alastor followed his gaze, then rolled his eyes. "Ah, green sky, storm coming? Then I'd better get under cover. Humans don't spend storms in forests."

"There will be no storm. But there is a herd of my people approaching. They do not take kindly to wizard trespass into our lands."

Alastor paused. Centaurs. Damn. From what Hagrid said, they were bloody dangerous. Not that the stupid half-breed's opinion was normally worth much - he'd even been kicked out of Hogwarts not long ago - but...

He leaned against a tree, resigned to stay until the centaur told him it was safe to leave.

"You do not need to worry about your classwork," said the centaur. "Your skill and knowledge in that field are already sufficient for your future endeavors."

Alastor snorted. "Not if I'm going to work for my father, I'm not. The kinds of things people bring into his shop--"

"You will not work for him."

Alastor's mouth dropped open at the centaur's assured tone. "Foresee that, do you?"

"Not at all. You are simply not suited for a life spent following other's directions, your father's or anyone else's. You are more like your mother."

"My mother?" Alastor's lip curled. "She's barmy as a bat and not worthy of my father's family--"

"And more like you than you know," said the centaur. "Your father does not want you to, but you think outside the norm, as does she."

"Where are you getting all of this rubbish? Divining the future of student you don't even know in the stars?"

"The stars say little about you. I know you from the human called Albus Dumbledore."

Alastor snorted again. "Dumbledore? The off-centre Transfigurations professor? Pull the other one."

"He has noticed you."

"Ugh. There's rumours about him and what he 'notices', you know."

"He has noticed all of Tom Riddle's hangers-on."

"I'm not a hanger-on," said Alastor, bristling. "Besides, Riddle's not so much, is he? Everyone expected such great things from him, but he just went to work for me dad and then scarpered off."

"He accomplished more than you know. He has travelled far. He will travel farther. As will his snake."

"The snake?" Alastor turned. There it was, in a tree, looking down at him and the centaur. "How is that snake going to travel far?"

"It is destined for greatness."

"Greatness?"

"Of a sort." The centaur turned to look at him again. "As are you, in your own way." He paused. "Albus Dumbledore believes you are an unusual child. That some day your role in the world will be important."

"Dumbledore's a loon."

"Do not be so quick to dismiss Albus Dumbledore, young Alastor Burke. Your mother thinks quite highly of him."

"My mother is nothing but a--"

"And do not be so quick to dismiss your mother. Your father is not the person you should follow. He has raised you a certain way, with certain pride, with certain expectations. A Slytherin through and through, and you have seen what a young snake can do among Slytherins. You can remain in that environment, work for your father, follow that human snake you so admired when he was here--"

"First have to find him, wouldn't I?"

"Or you can help fight against him. All you need to do is let go of your blood prejudice, let go of your father's expectations. Think outside the norm. Like your mother."

"She's a loon. Too much Auroring, says my father. It's why he kicked her out."

"Too much Muggle blood is why he kicked her out."

Alastor's felt the blood drain from his face. That was something he and his father never talked about. Ever.

"It will be Half-bloods like you - and Albus Dumbledore, and young Tom Riddle, and two more who are not yet born - will write history."

 _Riddle?!_ A Half-blood? And Dumbledore too?

No, that couldn't be right. Dumbledore maybe, but--

Merlin, this conversation felt a lot like talking to his Transfigurations professor, minus the purple robes.

The centaur was still gazing at him calmly. "Morwenna Moody may be an unusual witch, but you will do far better following her lead than your father's."

"You're barmy."

"Perhaps. The other centaurs have certainly thought me so." The centaur glanced at something behind Alastor and raised one pale eyebrow. "Stay still, human," he said quietly, then suddenly hissed and rose on his back legs. Alastor almost backed away, startled, but an answering hiss from behind him and a sense of... trust in the centaur, oddly enough, kept him immobile.

  
The centaur hissed and reared again, his legs churning briefly, then landed and glanced back at Alastor.

"You may move again," he said. "I have persuaded the snake to seek an easier meal."

Alastor turned and caught a glimpse of the snake as it disappeared into the forest. "You... you saved my life just then, didn't you?" he said slowly.

"Perhaps. You seem to respond well to danger, though. Perhaps you would have been safe without my presence."

"All the same, thanks," said Alastor, feeling slightly shaky anyway.

"You are welcome," the centaur said, then tilted his head to the side and seemed to be listening for something. "My people have gone. You should leave the forest before they return this way."

Alastor looked up. "The sky's still green. Isn't a green sky a predictor of storm? 'Cause the clouds have sucked frogs into the sky?"

"It is merely the scattering of light waves."

"What?"

"I studied physics in my youth," he said with a faint smile. "Go back to your school, young wizard. And owl your mother."

And he turned and disappeared into the forest.


End file.
